This Grilled Chicken Dry Rub is a flavorful blend of spices you can keep at the ready for when you need a quick chicken recipe for any grilling occasion.
If you like simple protein preparations, then you’ll also want to try this Garlic Lime Shrimp Marinade, the Best Quick Steak Marinade, or one of these excellent Chicken Marinades.
Why This Recipe Works
Convenient — This grilled chicken dry rub is a flavorful blend of spices you can keep at the ready for when you need a quick chicken recipe for any grilling occasion.
Quick — It’s true: I am quite frequently a marinade girl. I love the simplicity of letting protein sit in a delicious, flavorful liquid for 15 minutes to 8 hours and then cook the meat or seafood, tasting all the marinade ingredients with each yummy bite. Recently, though, I discovered the beauty of dry rubs. Every time you need a quick fix for a meat dish, ta da! Dry rubs to the rescue.
Easy to batch — This dry rub for chicken breast is so very easy to put together and make up in one big batch to keep in your pantry with your other spices. Or, double it and give some as a gift! Who doesn’t love ready-made spices?
Simple ingredients — This simple grilled chicken seasoning is simply made up of other seasonings all whisked together. Nothing fancy (until they all come together, of course, then that’s magic!)
Ingredients
- Salt — Salt is always necessary in a dry rub. I use regular table salt but you could also use pink salt.
- Dried Italian Herb Blend or Herbs De Provence — Either one of these herb mixes will work in this grilled chicken dry rub recipe.
- Garlic Powder — Gotta have that garlic flavor!
- Smoked Paprika — Paprika is key for a bit of smokiness.
- Dry Ground Mustard — Maybe this one will throw you off a bit but I promise you don’t want to skip the ground mustard.
- Brown Sugar — Brown sugar is a great way to add a bit of sweetness to your grilled chicken.
- Onion Powder — Onion-y goodness in every bite. You can use dried, minced onion in a pinch.
- Black Pepper — Always need the black pepper to complement the salt.
- Cayenne Pepper — And, for a bit of heat add a pinch of cayenne pepper. You can skip this if you do not like the spiciness of cayenne in your chicken dry rub.
Here’s How You Make It
- Making this grilled chicken dry rub couldn’t be easier! Simply stir together all the ingredients and store them in an airtight container at room temperature.
- To use the easy dry rub for chicken, simply rub the spices all over the chicken after it has been drizzled with olive oil.
- Grill the chicken until it’s completely cooked through and served. Alternatively, you can slice the chicken for use in another recipe, or store for later use.
First off, a dry rub is, well, dry. Made from a mixture of dried spices, a rub is literally rubbed on to meat before cooking. It can create a nice seared texture if you’re grilling, but an easy dry rub for chicken such as this one also adds tons of flavor and you’ll taste more of each spice with every bite.
A marinade is made of spices plus liquid, like vinegar, olive oil, or wine. Because when you use a marinade, you leave the meat soak in the liquid and spices, it also tenderizes the meat somewhat, depending on the meat. For example, shrimp only need to marinade for 15 minutes, whereas you can leave tougher cuts of beef or pork in a marinade for up to 12 hours.
If you are using boneless, skinless chicken, you rub the grilled chicken dry rub right on the breast. If you are using chicken with skin on it, put the rub under the skin (otherwise, the spices will just come right off with the skin and not penetrate into the meat as much).
You can leave the easy dry rub for chicken on the meat before cooking for about four hours. I recommend rubbing and grilling right away though, otherwise you lose some of the flavor and the dryness of the herbs. Some might slide off, make a mess, and kind of defeats the purpose of using a dry rub in the first place.
You cannot marinade with a dry rub. They are two different things. If you need your meat to tenderize, then you should use a marinade. If not, then a dry spice rub will do the trick.
Expert Tips + Tricks
- Store the grilled chicken dry rub in an airtight container (I like to use clean, empty spice jars).
- This simple grilled chicken seasoning makes enough for about 12 large chicken breasts.
- Assuming you’re using semi-fresh herbs and not ones that have already been in your pantry for five years, then you’ve got about two to three years to use your newly made spice rub.
- To check for spice potency, pour some out in your hand and give it a little crush between two fingers and give it a smell. If you smell very little or nothing, then it’s probably time to toss that spice out. I recommend doing this test BEFORE making the rub.
More Recipes Like This
- Best Quick and Easy Chicken Marinade
- Garlic Herb Tuna Steak Marinade
- Tandoori Chicken Marinade
- Greek Chicken Marinade
Did you make this recipe? FANTASTIC. Please rate the recipe below and be sure to tag me on social when you share a photo on social – I love seeing what you’re up to in the kitchen!
Grilled Chicken Rub
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 3 teaspoons dried Italian herb blend - or Herbs de Provence
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon dry ground mustard
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Whisk together all ingredients and store in an airtight container at room temperature.
- To use, rub all over chicken that has been drizzled with olive oil. Grill chicken until cooked through and serve, or slice or dice and use for other recipes or store chilled in an airtight container to use later.
I followed this exactly, except we didn’t have cayenne pepper, so I substituted it for regular pepper. The chicken was good. But the reason I am putting only 4 stars, is there was too much salt for my liking. Besides that I will use this rub again.
Excellent rub. I lightly coated chicken thighs with mayonnaise and a few drops of liquid smoke and added this rub. Air fried at 400 degrees until the chicken was 160 degrees, turning once.
This rub is very tasty and has a bit of unique flavor profile from what I am used to. It has just the tiniest hint of heat on the back end (for me). Wife and daughter loved it. Thank you for sharing.
Always happy to hear that people enjoy these recipes! Glad your family does too 🙂
I use this recipe every time I make grilled chicken outside. My boys LOVE it❤️
Excellent! Perfect balance of herbs and spices. Used on big skinless boneless chicken breasts and grilled six minutes per side at 450F .
Too much herbs de provence, thought the salt was too much so I cut it to 2 teaspoons, heavy on the heat but that’s a personal preference. Glad I only used this for one side of my smoked chicken thighs and not both sides. If used lightly, it would be excellent. I used as a normal rub would be used and for 6 chicken thighs. I would use lightly as a seasoning, not a rub.
Loved this, Tiffany! I was looking for something to use for grilling when I forget or don’t have time to marinate. This is perfect and the first time I used a dry rub. I’ve been working on perfecting grilled chicken. I place one chicken breast at a time in a large ziplock and pound it really thin. Then, the olive oil and rub. Next grill on very high heat for 2 minutes on each side. Oh SO good! I read the recipe wrong and only used a tsp of salt and I thought it needed more (probably exactly like the recipe says!) Thank you for a great recipe. You’ve saved the day since since this required zero forethought, unlike marinating. YUM:)
I’m glad it turned out well 🙂
My husband and I both loved it, we didn’t find it salty at all.
Way too much salt. Otherwise tasty
Yee I used two tsp which may also be too much. Maybe a tsp?
For how much chicken is this? Thanks!
About 12 pieces
A great recipe for so many things. Just added extra pepper for my boys!
I usually do the rub process by placing the chicken and dry rub inside of a storage bag with a seal, seal the bag and move and manipulate the meat and spices all around to form a good consistent coating.
Is there an idea to add any small amount of liquid such as lime juice, vinegar, wine, etc, such as in a couple of tablespoons, inside the bag as well to give the chicken a bit of a tang, etc?
Absolutely! Lemon or lime juice would be a fantastic addition.
Absolutely amazing! The only change I made was I swapped Old Bay for the cayenne. Grilled the chicken breasts and they were the best I’ve ever had!
Fantastic! my new favorite grill chicken rub
Thank you so much! 🙂
I just tried this recipe today and it seriously tasted like something from a restaurant! I used it on a chicken breast and cooked it in the air fryer. Perfect!